Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and Vietnam Cooperative Alliance signed a seven-point cooperation agreement to boost consumption of goods and services in rural areas for the 2010-2011 period, a report of the ministry said on Tuesday.

The agreement is part of the national trade promotion program from 2011 to 2015 and a vision toward 2020, the ministry said at a signing ceremony.

Under the agreement, the alliance will play a pivotal role in enhancing sales of farm produce and industrial products, and supply of machines and equipment in rural and mountainous areas.

The two sides will enhance training activities to improve the quality of human resources for commerce and service cooperatives, particularly managerial capability for more than 250 directors of commercial and industrial cooperatives as well as nearly 460 market managers in rural areas.

To turn Vietnam into an industrialized nation from an agricultural country with farmers accounting for 73 percent of its population, the government always focuses on sustainable development and improving living conditions for people in rural areas, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Huong said.